Pentagon to Seek $80 Billion for Iran War and Other Needs: Report

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Reuters
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Happy Messi Monday! The great Lionel Messi scored two more goals today to break the all-time World Cup scoring record as his Argentina squad defeated Austria, 2-0. Meanwhile, the Senate notched a notable accomplishment of its own, voting 85-5 to pass the bipartisan "21st Century ROAD to Housing Act", which aims to boost the housing supply and make homes more affordable. The House is expected to approve that legislation as soon as Tuesday.

Here's what else is happening.

Pentagon to Seek $80 Billion for Iran War and Other Needs: Report

Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg told lawmakers last week that the Pentagon is eyeing an $80 billion supplemental request to cover the cost of the war against Iran as well as other expenses, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

In mid-May, the Pentagon's acting comptroller told a House committee that the war had cost about $29 billion up to that point. The total has risen since then, but the Pentagon has refrained from providing an up-to-date cost estimate, much to the frustration of some lawmakers.

The requested funds would go toward fleet operations, munitions and personnel, as well as other uses, the Journal said. Pentagon officials have warned that the Iran war has forced the military to shift funds to support the operation, putting a strain on training and other ongoing needs. Rep. Tom Cole, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in May that the Pentagon could run out of money for the Iran operation this summer, "probably in August."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to give a classified briefing to the Republican Study Committee in the House on Wednesday, and the supplemental request is expected to be on the agenda. President Trump has discussed a much larger supplemental request of $350 billion, which Republicans are considering as part of plans for a partisan reconciliation package, though there are questions about the viability of such an approach.

Sen. Chris Murphy, who sits on the appropriations committee, told the Journal that a supplemental funding bill for the Pentagon has little chance of passing on a bipartisan basis. "There are not 60 votes in the Senate for a supplemental," he said last week. "I think that's a pretty true statement that's not going to change anytime soon. They have made no effort to keep Congress in the loop, and they know that the war is wildly unpopular."

Most Americans Support Restoring Obamacare Subsidies: Poll

A majority of Americans support reinstating the enhanced subsidies for those who get their health insurance through the exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act, according to new polling data from Axios and Ipsos.

Reinstating the enhanced subsidies, which were established during the Covid pandemic but allowed to expire at the end of last year, is particularly popular with Democrats, who support the idea by an overwhelming majority of 81%. Seventy-one percent of independents also support the proposal, along with 42% of Republicans. Overall, 62% of respondents back the idea.

When it comes to voting, nearly half of respondents (45%) said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports reinstating the subsidies. That percentage is much higher for Democrats (72%) than for Republicans (36%), with independents falling in between (49%).

Americans also support efforts to lower drug prices. A majority (67%) support allowing drug manufacturers to sell directly to consumers to cut costs, an idea backed by more than 50% of all three major political categories.

The Axios/Ipsos American Health Index survey, conducted from March 6 to 9, 2026, is based on a nationally representative sample of 1,225 U.S. adults, with a margin of sampling error of +/- 2.9 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

Quote of the Day

"Congress has said spend the money, and the president doesn't want to. The question is, who wins? Under the law, Congress is supposed to win. Right now, the president is."

− Cerin Lindgrensavage, a former Justice Department lawyer who works for Protect Democracy, a nonprofit that fights against authoritarianism, as quoted by ProPublica in a piece today detailing how the Trump administration has defied Congress on foreign aid spending, including decisions that legal experts say likely violate the law.

"Officials have delayed spending on global health, have not issued funds for some projects and have labeled money destined for humanitarian aid as 'unallocated' to control how it can be spent," ProPublica's Anna Maria Barry-Jester reports, adding that Trump administration officials have often failed to respond to questions from Congress about what they are doing.

Budget watchers also note that the administration has signaled that it plans to withhold more funds this year.

Read more at ProPublica.

Goldman Sachs Cuts Recession Risk to 15%, Citing Iran Deal

Goldman Sachs economists cut their 12-month recession risk estimate from 25% to 15% today, citing the nascent deal to end the war with Iran. As the economic outlook improves, the bank also lifted its GDP growth forecast for the second half of the year to 2%.

With expectations that the Strait of Hormuz can stay open, the bank's commodities strategists now project the benchmark Brent crude oil price to end the year at $80 a barrel, around its current level, which is down from the recent peak around $120.

"On the upside, Iran's announcement on Saturday that the Strait was closed again served as a reminder that oil flows might only recover slowly," Chief Economist Jan Hatzius wrote in a note to clients. "On the downside, a near-term glut could develop as oil is released quickly into a market that was already oversupplied before the war."

Hatzius also made a point that others have shared as well about new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh's more limited approach to communicating with the public and financial markets: "a significant reduction in Fed transparency could make financial conditions-and thus economic outcomes-more volatile as market assumptions about the Fed's thinking become subject to fewer reality checks."

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